Physicochemical Factors Influence the Abundance and Culturability of Human Enteric Pathogens and Fecal Indicator Organisms in Estuarine Water and Sediment.

ABSTRACT: To assess fecal pollution in coastal waters, current monitoring is reliant on culture-based enumeration of bacterial indicators, which does not account for the presence of viable but non-culturable or sediment-associated micro-organisms, preventing effective quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). Seasonal variability in viable but non-culturable or sediment-associated bacteria challenge the use of fecal indicator organisms (FIOs) for water monitoring. We evaluated seasonal changes in FIOs and human enteric pathogen abundance in water and sediments from the Ribble and Conwy estuaries in the UK. Sediments possessed greater bacterial abundance than the overlying water column, however, key pathogenic species (Shigella spp., Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp., hepatitis

SUBMITTER: Hassard F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5650961 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature